Overview
Crafting is central to Outbound's gameplay. Players gather resources from the environment, process them at specialized workstations, and build everything from tools to van components. The system is designed to be "quick and effective" rather than tedious: collect materials, process them at stations inside the camper van, and put the results to use. Co-founder Marc Volger has said: "Crafting isn't just about survival, it's about expression."
Workstations
Each station handles one kind of processing. Stations are built inside or on top of the van through the modular Building System and can be moved later. The shipped build has 25 of them; the ones below are the early stations most players meet first, and the complete list with recipe counts and craft times is on the Workstations page.
Workstation | Function |
|---|---|
Workbench | Built into the rear of the van from the start; crafts tools and the other stations |
Sawmill | Cuts each lumber type into its matching plank |
Recycler | Turns Litter into Download Coupons, the currency for blueprint downloads |
Bio Burner | Burns Lumber, Light Lumber or Fibre for Electric Charge |
Metal Smelter | Smelts scrap and ore into the four metal tiers |
Smasher | Breaks rocks into their matching mineral |
Food Processor | Makes Jam, Tomato Sauce and Coconut Smoothie |
Cooking Pot | Cooks Mushroom Soup from any of the four mushroom species |
Baking Oven | Bakes Bread and Pizza |
The workbench is reached from the back of the van by lifting the rear hatch. Everything else has to be unlocked through the Technology Tree before it can be built.
Resources
Raw materials are gathered from the environment by hand or with tools. Basic resources include:
Resource | Source | Used For |
|---|---|---|
Lumber / Light Lumber | Trees (axe required for large logs) | Building components, bio burner fuel |
Rocks | Ground deposits | Building materials, crafting |
Scrap Metal | Found in the environment | Refined into Metal and Bolts |
Fibre | Plants and vegetation | Textile crafting, bio burner fuel |
Litter | Scattered debris throughout the world | Recycled into Download Coupons |
Bottle Caps | Found while exploring | Used at vending machines for bobbleheads |
Petals | Gathered from flowers | Crafting ingredient |
Coarse Ore | Mining deposits | Refined into Coarse Metal |
Resources in Outbound are replenishable: gathering spots regenerate over time, preventing permanent depletion and keeping the experience relaxed rather than stressful.
Processed Materials
Raw materials are refined at dedicated stations rather than all at the workbench. Each refining line runs tier by tier, so the station that makes your first plank is the same one that makes your last.
Material | Made From | Station |
|---|---|---|
Everwood Plank | 2x Lumber | Sawmill |
Silverbark Plank | 2x Light Lumber | Sawmill |
Redwood Plank | 2x Red Lumber | Sawmill |
Blossom Plank | 2x Blossom Lumber | Sawmill |
Reinforced Plank | 2x Everwood Plank, 1x Metal | Nailer |
Metal | 2x Scrap Metal | Metal Smelter |
Coarse Metal | 1x Coarse Ore | Metal Smelter |
Hardened Metal | 1x Red Ore | Metal Smelter |
Adamant Metal | 1x Chrome Ore | Metal Smelter |
Bolts | 2x Scrap Metal | Bolt Press |
Sheet Metal | 2x Scrap Metal | Sheet Press |
Casings | 1x Sheet Metal, 2x Clay | Sheet Press |
Thread, Durathread, Hyperthread | 2x of the matching fibre tier | Spinning Wheel |
Cloth, Durable Weave, Strong Weave | 3x of the matching thread tier | Weaver |
Glass | Common, Onyx or Red Minerals | Glass Smelter |
Minerals | Rocks, Mossrock, Amberstone or Quartz Rock | Smasher |
Paint | 5x Flower Petals or 2x Cactus Flower | Mortar and Pestle |
Electronics | 1x Bolts, 1x Sheet Metal | Assembler |
Bamboo Strips | 1x Bamboo | Bamboo Splitter |
Processed Rubber | 2x Natural Rubber | Rubber Processor |
Download Coupon | 2x Litter | Recycler |
Craft times for every one of these are on the Recipes List page.
Blueprints and Signal Towers
New crafting recipes and buildable items are unlocked by downloading blueprints from signal towers scattered throughout the world. To download a blueprint, players spend Download Coupons, made by feeding litter into the Recycler. Each signal tower offers several blueprint options to choose from, and the available options vary between players, so no two playthroughs unlock the same things in the same order.
Signal towers can refresh their offerings over time, rewarding players who revisit them. The tower network was improved during alpha development (v0.5.10). Some blueprints are tied to specific towers; for example, finding the sawmill blueprint may require locating a particular tower. Blueprint terminals were also placed at landmarks like fire lookout stations, with encrypted terminals added at coastal landmarks in beta v0.7.6.
Crafting Tools
Tools are crafted at the workbench and gate what you can gather. The shipped build has 20 tools across nine families, and most of them come in numbered tiers where each step up handles a harder resource node than the last. The full table with crafting costs sits on the Tools page.
Tool Family | Tiers | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
Axe | I to IV | Fells trees for Lumber; each tier unlocks a harder wood type |
Pickaxe | I to IV | Breaks rock nodes into minerals and ore |
Sickle | I to IV | Cuts bushes, wheat and bramble for Fibre and crops |
Flashlight | I to II | Lights the way at night and inside dark interiors |
Wrench | I to II | Repairs and clears mechanical obstacles |
Building Hammer | One tier | Places furnishings and vehicle add-ons through the Building System |
Paint Brush | One tier | Repaints the van and built pieces |
Watering Can | One tier | Waters planted crop plots; comes with the gardening unlock |
Homing Boots | One tier | Charge during the day and speed the walk back to the van at night |
Every tool is locked behind a blueprint download, so the practical order you get them in depends on what the Signal Towers near your route happen to offer.
Obstacle Clearing
As players drive between regions on the map, they encounter obstacles blocking the road: fallen trees, broken barriers, and collapsed bridges. Crafting the right tools and materials (typically an axe, wrench, and planks) is required to clear these obstacles and open new paths. This creates a natural progression gate that ties exploration to crafting advancement.